'He has been blessed' – What is secret behind Neil Robertson's masterful rise to snooker glory?

ByEurosport

Published 17/02/2022 at 12:25 GMT

Australian great Neil Robertson has won a professional tournament every year since 2006. The finest non-British player of all time has been the form horse of the season so far with victories at the English Open, Masters and Players Championship, but the key to his success story is not his glorious long game or prodigious break-building ability, according to 'The Gentleman' Joe Perry.

The moment Neil Robertson won the Masters

Neil Robertson is famed for his fearsome long potting and break-building, but the key to his rousing snooker success story is a uniquely tranquil temperament that exudes "self-belief and calmness", according to 'The Gentleman' Joe Perry.

Robertson failed in his first attempt as a professional in 1998, but regained his World Snooker Tour card in 2003 and has not looked back in claiming 22 ranking events which has remarkably included a professional title every year since 2006.

Robertson – who turned 40 last Friday – has won the English Open, Masters and Players Championship this season before he begins his quest to claim a second European Masters crown in the past three years when he faces Lei Peifan on Monday evening in the first round in Milton Keynes (LIVE on Eurosport).

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2017 Masters finalist Perry practised with Robertson when the 2010 world champion moved from Melbourne to Cambridge in his second bid to crack the UK-based circuit after winning the 2003 U21 World Championship in New Zealand.

"Neil didn't base himself in Cambridge because of me it was because of a guy called Phil Mumford, who ran the club at the time who was a very good billiards player," he revealed.

"Phil had been in Australia for a year and said to a few guys: 'why don't you come to Cambridge, Joe Perry is there'."

"It worked out really well for Neil. There are a lot of pros who don't give you the time of day. I knew that on my journey towards the top.

It is all about them. They are quite selfish and rightly so are looking after number one, but that is not me. Luckily for Neil, that is not my character and I gave him a lot of time.

"It benefited me too because he was a great player and you could see the potential. I gave him access to my table and was getting my table recovered four or five times a season because the Australian boys were pounding it when I went home.

"They had no money. They couldn't afford to chip in and it get it done. I didn't mind because I enjoyed the match practice. He just fed off what I was doing and has gone on to become a wonderful snooker player."

Robertson secured his second Masters title a decade after his first with a 10-4 victory over Barry Hawkins in London last month.

The world No 4's 10-5 victory over Hawkins saw him lift his 22nd ranking crown at the Players Championship on Sunday – 16 years after celebrating his first with a 9-5 win over Jamie Cope at the old Grand Prix.

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"You could see the progress month on month, season on season," said Perry on WST. "You could tell he was good, but you didn't know he was going to be one of the best ever.

"He just worked and worked. He knew what he was meant to be doing and he changed things about his game. It was great to see. Which I didn't teach him.

"I wish I had what's he got which is a temperament. I think it is more luck than judgment.

I don't think you can make yourself like Neil is. He's just got an inner belief, a positivity and a calmness. I think he has been blessed with that.

A tearful Robertson carried off his 10th ranking title with an epic 10-9 win over Perry in June 2014 that saw him finish with breaks of 87 and 78 to claim the final two frames with Perry leading 9-8 and on the cusp of a first major ranking triumph.

"At the end, I was really emotional," said Robertson. "Maybe people thought it was because I'd won, but in fact it was for Joe as he was there at the start of my career.

"So happy to win the final but without Joe Perry I would not be where I am today. He is a great friend and an all round class guy!"

Perry lifted his solitary ranking title at the 2015 Player Tour Championship finals with a 4-3 win over Mark Williams, but has lost three other ranking finals between 2001 and 2018.

"I felt sorry for Neil that he couldn't enjoy a massive win. It just goes to show what he is all about," added world No 41 Perry, who meets Cao Yupeng in the last 64 of the European Masters following a 5-4 win over Steven Hallworth in the first round.

"As much as he wanted me to win something, he was ruthless in winning the final two frames, but then probably realised he had beaten his good friend and someone he looked up in what would have been the biggest occasion of my career to date.

"It was genuine, it was heartfelt and it was another disappointment for me, but it just shows what Neil is all about."